Cute Time-Lapse Video Shows Scary Side of Scheduling an Early Birth (VIDEO)

Everyone loves a good time-lapse video, especially one that shows the glorious transformation of a woman's body throughout pregnancy. Those who are diligent enough to document the whole journey have produced some amazing keepsakes and a look at the remarkable process that takes place during those nine months. The March of Dimes has gotten in on the action as well, but for a much more pointed reason -- to let women know that ALL nine months are important for a developing baby.

With so many early inductions and scheduled c-sections, babies are often missing out on important days and weeks of growing time that could cause long-term problems in the future. The primary message: A healthy baby is worth the wait.

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As someone who had no choice but to deliver my son at 27 weeks, I'll never understand someone's decision to try and have a baby early. I would have given anything for a few more days, let alone weeks to let my son grow and thrive as he was meant to. My second pregnancy was full-term, and I know how uncomfortable I was toward the end and how ready I was to meet my daughter, but that time is fleeting. The long-term complications from delivering even a week early, however, can have a lifetime of consequences for children.

Your due date may not be exactly right. Sometimes it's hard to know just when you got pregnant. Even with an ultrasound, your due date can be off by as much as two weeks. If you schedule to induce labor or schedule a cesarean birth (also called a c-section) and your date is off by a week or two, your baby may be born too early.

Inducing labor may not work. If your labor is induced, the medicine your doctor or certified nurse-midwife gives you may not start your labor. When this happens, you may need to have a c-section.

A c-section can cause problems for your baby. Babies born by c-section may have more breathing and other medical problems than babies born by vaginal birth. (Most babies are born by vaginal birth. The mother's uterus contracts to help push the baby out through the vagina, also called the birth canal.)

Hopefully this video will help get the word out, and remind women that nature makes pregnancies last 40 weeks (in most cases) for a reason.